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A fan calling in to NFL Radio today said that after the Ravens game two weeks ago, Harbaugh blew off Tomlin after the game. Does anyone know if this is true? If it is, it might explain MT's response after the rematch...

Tomlin, John Harbaugh have awkward handshake after Ravens-Steelers game
By Jay Busbee | Shutdown Corner

You know how postgame coaches' handshakes are supposed to work: The field generals, surrounded by a retinue of local police trying hard not to smile for the TV cameras, meet at midfield and handshake, share a dude-embrace, and offer up some local steakhouse recommendations or whatever. These guys understand what each other is going through more than anyone else on earth.
So when something goes awry with the usual routine, we notice. Like at the conclusion of Sunday's Ravens-Steelers game, when losing Baltimore coach John Harbaugh wasn't content with the nice-game quickshake of Pittsburgh's Mike Tomlin. As you can see in the video above, Harbaugh hauls Tomlin back to make sure Tomlin knows that Harbaugh wants to congratulate him. I'm not going to be ignored, Mike!
Yeah, so, that was weird. While it's tempting to attach mystical, metaphorical significance to a single moment, let's not do that. Let's just wonder why it is that Harbaugh felt it necessary to wrangle Tomlin and force him to accept Harbaugh's congratulations, and then look at the departing Tomlin several times in apparent frustration/disgust/hurt feelings. The Ravens and the Steelers are both teams who have no trouble stirring up rivalry and bad blood, and this looks to be another one of those moments. Not exactly earth-shattering, of course, but enough to raise a couple eyebrows.

What's up with the Harbaughs and handshakes? This marks at least the fourth time that John Harbaugh or his brother Jim, head coach of the 49ers, have had a little trouble pulling off the ol' postgame grip-and-grin:
— Last year, Detroit Lions head coach Jim Schwartz chased down Jim Harbaugh after Harbaugh gloated a bit in the wake of the 49ers' win over Detroit.
— Also last season, John Harbaugh and then-Chiefs head coach Todd Haley had a testy exchange over the Ravens' use of timeouts in a preseason game.
— And back in 2009, when Jim Harbaugh coached Stanford and now-Seattle coach Pete Carroll headed up USC, the coaches got into a battle of what's-your-deals after Stanford manhandled the Trojans 55-21.
Although this is an absurdly small sample size, this is the Internet, so we'll just leap right to judgment: The Harbaughs should be banned from performing postgame handshakes until they can handle themselves appropriately. Perhaps they can have proxy handshakers to demonstrate proper form. That seems like a logical solution, yes?

Molon labe

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf. George Orwell

American metal pimped by asiansteel
Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you 1. Jesus Christ, 2.The American G.I., One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.

Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh was involved in a testy handshake with Mike Tomlin on Sunday, moments after the Pittsburgh Steelers last-second win in the bitter division rivalry.

Harbaugh said "congratulations" as the two met at midfield following Shaun Suisham's game-winning field goal at time expired. Tomlin, who was jogging and looked disinterested in exchanging pleasantries, stabbed at Harbaugh's hand from a distance, grabbed it briefly and continued on his way without breaking stride. He wanted the run-off handshake.

But Harbaugh didn't let go and pulled Tomlin back toward him, while saying, "hey, hey, hey I said congratulations." He had the tone of a mother reminding her son to say "thank you."

A bemused Tomlin didn't resist. He reluctantly came back to Harbaugh, said "thank you, good job," and ran away. Not that we ever want to assign a thought to another person, but it's not too much of an assumption to say Tomlin may have been thinking something else. His eyes said it all during the brief moment he and Harbaugh made eye contact.

This is all on Harbaugh. He acted like a petulant child, which is to say he acted like his brother, Jim, who gained handshake infamy last year when he swatted Jim Schwartz on the back after his San Francisco 49ers won in Detroit. Tomlin offered his hand. That's all he needs to do. Pulling him back and admonishing him was petty and juvenile.

Some will say Tomlin wasn't a good winner. He didn't make eye contact, he didn't acknowledge Harbaugh's initial words and he ran away from the handshake. All true and all nonsense. Perfunctory exchanges make not sportsmanship. Why does Tomlin need to act like Harbaugh's "good game" was a heartfelt expression from a defeated gladiator? It's phony. It's meaningless. You may not believe that. Regardless, can you deny Harbaugh was more of a bad loser than Tomlin was a bad winner?

If you were watching the game on CBS, you would have missed the awkward moment. The network was showing a long embrace between 37-year-old quarterback Charlie Batch and injured starter Ben Roethlisberger. Only the briefest flicker of the handshake was aired live.

Molon labe

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf. George Orwell

American metal pimped by asiansteel
Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you 1. Jesus Christ, 2.The American G.I., One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.

Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh was involved in a testy handshake with Mike Tomlin on Sunday, moments after the Pittsburgh Steelers last-second win in the bitter division rivalry.

Harbaugh said "congratulations" as the two met at midfield following Shaun Suisham's game-winning field goal at time expired. Tomlin, who was jogging and looked disinterested in exchanging pleasantries, stabbed at Harbaugh's hand from a distance, grabbed it briefly and continued on his way without breaking stride. He wanted the run-off handshake.

But Harbaugh didn't let go and pulled Tomlin back toward him, while saying, "hey, hey, hey I said congratulations." He had the tone of a mother reminding her son to say "thank you."

A bemused Tomlin didn't resist. He reluctantly came back to Harbaugh, said "thank you, good job," and ran away. Not that we ever want to assign a thought to another person, but it's not too much of an assumption to say Tomlin may have been thinking something else. His eyes said it all during the brief moment he and Harbaugh made eye contact.

This is all on Harbaugh. He acted like a petulant child, which is to say he acted like his brother, Jim, who gained handshake infamy last year when he swatted Jim Schwartz on the back after his San Francisco 49ers won in Detroit. Tomlin offered his hand. That's all he needs to do. Pulling him back and admonishing him was petty and juvenile.

Some will say Tomlin wasn't a good winner. He didn't make eye contact, he didn't acknowledge Harbaugh's initial words and he ran away from the handshake. All true and all nonsense. Perfunctory exchanges make not sportsmanship. Why does Tomlin need to act like Harbaugh's "good game" was a heartfelt expression from a defeated gladiator? It's phony. It's meaningless. You may not believe that. Regardless, can you deny Harbaugh was more of a bad loser than Tomlin was a bad winner?

If you were watching the game on CBS, you would have missed the awkward moment. The network was showing a long embrace between 37-year-old quarterback Charlie Batch and injured starter Ben Roethlisberger. Only the briefest flicker of the handshake was aired live.

Harbaugh can't have it both ways. Can't say "congratulations" and ask for a gracious acceptance, then follow it up with postgame comments saying they were the better team. Were these Harbaugh brothers mistreated by their mothers or something?

Have we played a game against them where they didn't cheap shot our QB AND go helmet to helmet on at least one of our WR or TE? I mean Ben got his nose ripped apart by them, Leftwich took a shot to the head by them, Batch took two cheap shots to the head by them, Sanders took a helmet to helmet this year by Reed, last year Heath got knocked out of the game and the following two weeks for a cheap shot helmet to helmet hit. I am sure I am missing some....

Piss on that team. If we face them in the playoffs I'm having Timmons blitz up the middle and going straight helmet to helmet spearing style on Flacco, take the 15 yard penalty, and pay the fine. He wouldn't get suspended as apparently Ed Reed can go helmet to helmet on people half a dozen times, get suspended, and then have the suspension revoked. I would kill Flacco on the first series they have the ball so he has to try and play the entire game in a daze.

You better be careful what you say about coach Mike Tomlin's Pittsburgh Steelers because it could come back to bite you.

His undermanned team ended the Baltimore Ravens' 15-game home winning streak Sunday, evidently fueled in part by some two-week old comments from Ravens coach John Harbaugh, and set the stage for Tomlin's drive-by handshake with his counterpart following the game.

"There's bad blood between these two coaches," said NFL Network analyst Darren Sharper, who was Tomlin's college teammate at William & Mary in the 1990s, on Showtime's Inside the NFL on Wednesday night.

"You think about the fact that the teams do not like each other, so that carries over to the coaches because they're the ones preaching to the team before the games. And before this game there was a little bit of an incident in which Coach Harbaugh had some comments after they beat the Pittsburgh Steelers which he knew the camera was on, too."

Sharper was referring to a locker room clip of Harbaugh lauding his club immediately after its 13-10 win at Heinz Field on Nov. 18, the Steelers' first game this season without injured quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

Said Harbaugh to the troops that night: "The toughest team won that football game. The mentally tough team won that football game. The better team won the football game. The team that knows how to win won that football game."

Yes, if you're keeping track, Tomlin's team has reached two Super Bowls and won one since 2008, Harbaugh's first year in Baltimore. The Steelers eliminated the Ravens in the playoffs on the way to both of those Super Bowls, and many Baltimore players acknowledge that the lone missing element in the teams' bloody rivalry is the fact that none of them (save Ray Lewis 12 years ago) have rings.

So hearing Harbaugh deem the Ravens the tougher team clearly didn't sit well with Mr. T.

"Coach Tomlin, like all coaches do, they watch everything. They read the papers — they try to say they don't — they read the papers, they look at television, and he thought that was a message towards his team," said Sharper, who wasn't merely speculating.

"I know this for sure. I talked to Mike, and after the game I asked him about the handshake, and he said that there is some bad blood there. And he did not appreciate what Coach Harbaugh said postgame after the first victory."

If you're watching, Coach Harbaugh, NFL Films captured Tomlin repeatedly referred to his troops as "tough team" as he shook each player's hand on their way into the visitors' locker room at M&T Bank Stadium, which lasted hosted a victor on Dec. 5, 2010 ... that's right, Tomlin's Steelers.

watch the extra point tries last night. The way they attacked warren cheap as hell.

good for tomlin as I have zero respect for john harbaugh and the brand of football he coaches.

They are absolutely dirty. The way that Yanda just dives directly at Hampton's knees without is absolutely dirty, even if legal. It's not like he is trying to make a low block - he's trying to blow out a knee. They are dirty, whiny cheap shot artists and it comes from their no-class head coach.

When the leader of your team is somebody who should probably still be in jail, what else would you expect?